


Flight

by DelanaKiger



Series: Giant Home (title may change) [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: (again maybe), (maybe), Crying, Fear, G/T, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Long Live Feedback Comment Project, Men Crying, Morality | Patton Sanders is a Good Friend, Remus is mentioned, Virgil is mentioned, selective mutism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:27:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23937601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DelanaKiger/pseuds/DelanaKiger
Summary: Sir Prince Roman becomes terribly lost but cannot seem to ask for directions. Brave, daring young men like him don’t need to ask for directions!It’s definitely not because every time he tries to get the nearby giants’ attention, his mouth goes dry, and he chickens out before they can even notice him.Yeah, of course not...
Relationships: Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: Giant Home (title may change) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1725496
Comments: 14
Kudos: 43





	Flight

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, guys! DelanaKiger here! Wow, I haven't written a fanfiction in a LONG time, unless you count writing down plots or writing stories in my head. Speaking of which, this story came about yesterday when I woke up at around 5:00 AM, and I couldn't go back to sleep because my brain gave me a story idea and was like, "Hey, wouldn't it be great if you just wrote the whole thing in your head right now even though you're trying to sleep??"
> 
> Trigger warnings: Maybe abusive parents? Maybe selective mutism? Not sure about either of those, tbh. I'm not sure if Roman's home life counts as abusive, and I'm not sure if it counts as selective mutism if terror makes him unable to speak. I'll put those two just in case and so somebody can tell me, lol.

An argument left Sir Prince Roman on the verge of tears, not that he would ever admit it. On days like this, Roman often took a walk in the woods. It hid him from those who would judge, and what better way to clear one’s head than to take a walk in nature? Normally, he would bring a horse with him – a couple, even, if he was planning to camp out for the night and needed a pack horse to carry supplies. It was often more relaxing than spending time with humans. Horses couldn’t judge him, nor could they spill his secrets to anyone who could. But this time, he felt like he needed to be _alone_ alone. So, he went alone.

And then he got lost.

Suddenly, Roman wished he had brought a horse. The noble steeds in the castle stables had an impeccable sense of direction, much better than his on a bad day like this. When he was upset, his mind had a way of wrapping itself in tendrils, unable to focus on anything outside of itself even as he was moving.

He would have asked for directions, but he was in the middle of the woods with nobody around. He continued to wander for a bit and found a town inhabited by giants.

Roman stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he saw them. He took a deep breath. _Ok,_ he thought, _this town is full of giants. No big deal. Sure, they’re huge and intimidating – some may even say terrifying. But I have slain many dragons and other wild beasts before! Giants should be no issue! Besides, they seem friendly enough._ These giants seemed to act almost like humans. They walked the streets, talking and laughing with their friends. What was a few extra miles to their height?

So, he looked around and spotted a trio of men who appeared to be in their late teens, having what seemed to be a very funny conversation, as one of them bent down and cracked up, hands on his knees. His friends were laughing, too, even if not so wildly. Sir Prince Roman approached them as slowly as possible, taking deep breaths the whole time. He cleared his throat and opened his mouth to get their attention.

His mouth went dry, and he couldn’t bring himself to make a peep.

The giants continued to chat, not even realizing that Roman was there. He turned on his heel and speed-walked away. _That’s all right!_ he told himself. _They seem to be having a good time, and I don’t want to interrupt. I’ll just find someone else._

And he did. He found plenty of other giants to talk to. But every time he tried, the same exact thing would happen. He would approach them, clear his throat, and try to say something. His mouth would go dry, and he wouldn’t be able to force any words out. Then, he would make an excuse to himself and walk away to try again, the giant (or giants) never noticing he was there in the first place.

This happened a few more times, but Roman, being the stubborn prince/knight that he was, was no closer to giving up. One giant, a slightly pudgy man with a sky-blue T-shirt; thick, square-framed glasses; a light gray cardigan wrapped around his neck like a cape; and a pair of camouflage-pattern short-shorts was in the middle of a conversation with his emo-looking friend. Despite the latter’s dark clothing and eyeshadow, the former managed to get a bright, sunny smile onto the young stormcloud’s face. Once again, Sir Prince Roman cleared his throat. Once again, the giants were too high up to hear it. Once again, he would have to say something to get their attention.

The two friends shared a hearty laugh once more, then waved to each other as the emo left. The other one stayed where he was and put his fists on his hips with a fond sigh. “What a good kid,” he murmured.

As Roman struggled to find his voice, the giant turned in his direction and looked down, _right at him_. Roman jumped back. The giant widened his eyes and practically threw his hands up in what was supposed to be a placating gesture, but the sudden movement only made Roman take another backwards leap. “Oh, I’m sorry, little fella!” the giant squeaked (somehow). “I didn’t mean to scare you! I just wasn’t expecting to see you.”

Roman trembled and hoped the giant couldn’t hear him whimpering. _Yeah, well, I wasn’t expecting you to see me either,_ he tried to say.

The giant tilted his head. “Didja need something?”

Roman opened his mouth, and finally, something came out: a scream.

The shriek was so loud and embarrassingly high that even the giant winced. Roman spun on his heel and fled as quickly as he could. “W-wait!” cried the giant from behind him as his booming footsteps shook the ground. _Oh, gosh, he’s following me! No, no, no!!_ “It’s okay! Please don’t run away!”

Roman panted heavily as he ran for his life, the footsteps never ceasing their pursuit. Was it just him, or were they getting closer by the second? _Of course they’re getting closer, you idiot!_ he snarled inwardly. _He’s a giant, for Pete’s sake! You’re just a human! How can you hope to outrun him with your tiny little legs!?_

He couldn’t; he knew that. So, as Roman passed some bushes, he whipped around to the side and dove into one, hiding among the leaves. _Gosh, even the bushes here are giant!_ Roman knelt down and covered his head. He could relate to this bush; he was shaking just like a leaf! He moved his hands down to his face, muffling his sobs as best he could.

“Hey, little guy.” He jumped out of his skin despite the tone being softer than anything he had ever heard. “It’s okay. I’m not gonna hurt you, honest. I just wanna help you.” Roman drew his hands down ever so slightly, uncovering his eyes. As soon as he did so, they became as wide as dinner plates, and he turned around to look. The giant was lying on his stomach, his head and body pressed as close to the ground as possible.

“Eep!” Roman covered his eyes once more.

“It’s okay,” the giant repeated. “Shhh, it’s okay, little guy. It’s okay.” Roman sniffled and whimpered. “I know you’re scared, sweetie. I’m sure I would be, too, if I was in your shoes. It must be terrifying to see someone so big. And you’re in a town full of us! Gosh, I’m so sorry, kiddo. Again, I want to help you. And if that means helping you get out of here, then I’m all for it. Everything’s going to be okay, I promise.”

Roman could not hold back anymore. The sobs and the waterfalls that came with them broke free, and he was powerless to stop them. Every now and then, Roman would glance outside the bush for a brief moment before hiding his eyes again. The giant never moved from his position; he didn’t even make any attempt to touch Roman. Instead, he whispered comforting words from where he was.

Sooner or later, Roman’s terrified wailing died down to a series of small whimpers. “Feeling better, kiddo?” the giant asked, his sad frown turning into a gentle smile.

Roman gave a huge sniff and wiped his eyes. “No,” he replied much sharper than he meant to. He flinched, backtracking as quickly as possible. “W-well, I-I-I mean, I... suppose I’m... not as terrified as I was, but... I’m not exactly _calm_ , either,” he explained, never once looking at the giant.

The giant nodded in understanding. “That’s fine. You don’t have to relax right away. So, did you need something?”

Roman turned to face him, and the request for directions once again immediately died on his tongue. His face drained of color, and his breathing became erratic. He had no choice but to turn his back to the giant again.

Once he’d (somewhat) calmed back down, he sat on one of the bush’s twisted branches, roaring in frustration and yanking on his hair.

“Hey, no, don’t do that,” the giant scolded. He brought his finger to Roman’s head to move his hands away; as soon as Roman noticed, he fell and cowered on the ground with a shriek. The giant immediately withdrew his hand. “No, no! I’m sorry, kiddo! I’m sorry! I just don’t want you to hurt yourself, that’s all.”

Within a few seconds, Roman moved back to the branch with a groan. “I’m doing it again,” he muttered.

The giant tilted his head in confusion. “Doing what again?” With a frustrated glare on his face, Roman stood up and gestured wildly around. “Throwing your hands in the air?”

“No!” the prince shouted. “Freaking out! Here I am, Sir Prince Roman, the bravest, handsomest, most daring of knights, slayer of dragons, and savior of maidens and men, yet I can’t even look at a giant without becoming a mute mess!” He collapsed to his knees with a deep, raw sigh. “What kind of knight am I?”

“Hey, don’t sweat it, kiddo.” He gave Roman that encouraging smile again, even though the prince couldn’t see it. “It’s perfectly normal for humans to be afraid of giants, just like it’s perfectly normal for tinies to be afraid of humans. You... said you were Sir Prince Roman?” Roman nodded. “That’s awesome!” the giant squealed. “My name’s Patton, and I’ve heard a whole lot about you!”

“R-really?” Roman almost tried looking him in the eyes again.

“Really! You’re _so_ cool, kiddo! And you’re _plenty_ brave! You’ve saved a lot of people, and you’re still young, so I’d imagine you’re gonna save hundreds more in the future! So what if you’re scared of giants? Doesn’t make you any less of a hero.”

“Tell that to my parents.” The comment was mumbled quietly, but even so, Roman couldn’t stop his eyes from widening and his hand from flying up to his mouth.

“Y... your parents?” came the soft reply.

Roman’s breath hitched, but after finding his voice, he decided to share. “Well, I mean... kind of my kingdom’s culture in general, really. It’s just that as the ones in charge of my discipline, my parents are the ones enforcing such rules upon me specifically. Er, and my brother. Used to, at least. My brother is... well, he and I say ‘a free spirit’, our parents say ‘a lost cause’. Either way, my parents gave up trying to get him to conform a long time ago, but they haven’t given up on me.”

The giant narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean ‘conform’?”

Roman shrugged. “Nothing too bad. It’s not like they’re trying to completely strip me of my individuality or anything. In fact, I think my brother had it worse since everything that makes him, him is stuff our parents never liked. As for me, though, back home, there are certain feelings for men and certain feelings for women. Men are allowed to feel happiness or anger or love – most emotions, really. But the two emotions men are never supposed to express except for extreme circumstances are sadness and fear.”

Roman took a few seconds to gulp and breathe before continuing. “I remember one time, I was around thirteen, I think, and I asked my parents... I forgot what the exact question was. It was something like ‘What’s the difference between fear and cowardice?’ or ‘Is it okay for a knight to get scared?’ or something like that. They said the difference between fear and cowardice was basically just semantics. They told me that if a man, let alone a knight, gets frightened, he is weak, and the only way to keep his reputation is to hide it. And then my dad asked me, ‘Why do you want to know?’ His tone sounded so... accusatory, I guess? Like he started to catch onto the real reason. I told him I was just curious and ended the conversation there.”

A few tears fell down Roman’s cheeks, and the pair spent several seconds in silence. Roman glanced behind him for a moment to see if Patton was still there.

Roman jumped as Patton finally spoke again, his voice the solemnest the prince had heard from him so far. “What your parents have been teaching you is _not_ right. Everyone has feelings, men and women; humans, giants, and tinies. And everyone should have a right to express them freely. It’s not healthy for a kid to grow up in an environment where they can’t. I, uh... gosh, in any other situation, I’d never dream of saying this, but... I’m glad your parents gave up on your brother.” He chuckled nervously. “But that still leaves you.”

Patton paused, and Roman, unsure whether the giant planned to continue, spoke. “Yeah, well, if my parents don’t even want me to express my emotions, how do you think they’ll feel about me expressing the _desire_ to express my emotions? I would imagine just as angry, if not more so.”

“Well, you actually have a few different options here. First off, you can go home, and then you have a few _more_ options branching off from there. You can talk to your parents and let them know how suffocating they’re being when they don’t let you express yourself. You can rebel and keep rebelling like your brother did. You can also back down for now. Sure, that last one will hurt you a lot, but eventually, you’ll become king. Then, you can try and change the rules of your society so no one else will have to suffer the way you did.”

Roman nodded in understanding, and Patton continued. “You could also form a support network. I imagine your brother would be all right with you leaning on him for support. You also have me now!” he chirped with a bright, sunny grin. “You live in the kingdom just across the forest, right?” Roman nodded. “So, you should be able to visit fairly often, provided your parents are okay with that.”

Roman shrugged. “Well, they do allow me quite a bit of freedom. I am a knight, after all. They don’t like it when I leave for more than a day without telling them, but other than that, they’re pretty lenient when it comes to adventuring.”

The giant nodded thoughtfully. “Hmm. It sounds to me like your parents are generally pretty supportive except for when it comes to your emotions.”

The prince wagged his finger with a strained grin. “Ehh, I wouldn’t say that. For instance, you should’ve seen them when my brother and I came out of the closet. Like, they took that closet, and they _flipped_ it! Just... _ripped_ the door straight off its hinges and threw it in our faces!” He laughed nervously. “I think my parents sorta... I guess, have their own plans and guidelines for what me and (previously) my brother were and were not allowed to do or be.”

“Hmm.” The giant paused, thinking deeply. “All right, I have an idea. If you want to, you can stay with me for a bit.”

Roman flinched. “Wh-what!?” _Is this crazy giant trying to kidnap the prince or something?_

“Only for as long as you want to!” Patton assured him. “I just want to give you a home where you can be yourself, though it’s probably better if that home remains a secondary home. Of course, I’d be happy to adopt you if you end up deciding that that’s what you need, but we should take it slow and decide on that later. For now, I just wanna give you a break from your parents and the rest of your kingdom. Are you interested?”

“I... I...” Roman rubbed his upper arms, shivering and breathing cold air through gritted teeth. “I-I don’t know. I’m still... y-you know.”

“All right. Well, guess I shouldn’t have expected you to make a decision like that right away. Again, you live close by, so if you decide you want to stay with me or even just wanna have a friendly chat, come on over and look for me, all right? I know finding one person in a town can be like finding a needle in a haystack, but I’m a social butterfly, so you should see me somewhere around town. Either way, good luck growin’ up, kiddo. Bye!”

Patton stood up as slowly as molasses, and Roman heard a multitude of pops and cracks, along with a few pained groans. “Y-you okay up there?” he shouted in concern.

“Yeah,” Patton called downward. “Turns out, if you lay flat on your belly for, like, ten minutes, it hurts a lot to get up. Welp, see ya around!” With that, the giant finally left, and with him gone, Roman sat alone in the bush with his thoughts.

_Should I go with him? I know he said I could always change my mind later, but it may be next to impossible to find him. Heck, he even said it himself: Finding somebody in a town is like finding a needle in a haystack! Maybe I should go to him before I lose my chance? ...Ah, who am I kidding? I’m terrified of giants! But... back home, I would never be allowed to express that freely. A home where I don’t have to hide when I’m scared or upset sounds... nice. And I can just get over my fear of giants! If Patton is truly as kind as he seems, and he’s taking care of me, it shouldn’t be that hard. Right?_

Roman took deep breaths until he stopped shaking. _Then it’s settled. I am going with Patton!_

He leaped out of the bush, eyes flicking around in search of the giant. Unfortunately, he hadn’t seen where Patton had gone, and calling his name yielded no results, so he took a wild guess as to the direction and went with it. By the time he found him, it was just shy of nighttime.

“ ** _Patton_**!!” yelled Roman, unable to contain his excitement. Patton was currently talking with about five other giants ( _Gee, he really is a social butterfly!_ ), and when Roman shouted, they all stopped and turned to look at him. Roman backed away, his eyes on the ground, and muttered, “Sorry, sorry, sorry” over and over.

“Excuse us for a minute,” Patton told his friends, soft concern filling his voice and features. They moved some distance away to quietly resume their conversation, though most of them couldn’t help staring. Patton knelt down in front of Roman, the latter trembling. “Hey, kiddo,” he whispered. “What’s up?” At this point, whimpering almost became a replacement for speech, as Roman simply couldn’t stop. “That’s okay, Roman; take your time. I’ve got all night.”

With how annoyed Roman was at himself, feeling like he was wasting everyone’s time and making a complete fool of himself, it felt as though finding his voice took an eternity, even though it only took about ten seconds. “I... I want... I... I-I want to stay with you.”

Surprised, Patton froze for a few seconds before smiling and getting up. “All right. Guys?” he called to his friends. “I gotta go home right now. I’ll fill you in on what’s going on tomorrow.” After everyone said goodbye to each other, Patton turned back to Roman. “All right, kiddo, let’s get going. Do you want me to carry you, or do you wanna walk? Don’t forget, I’m a giant, so carrying you won’t be a problem at all!” Despite the cheer in his voice, the reminder of who the prince was talking to made Roman shudder. “Um, sorry.”

Roman rubbed his arm and forced a smile. “Y-yeah, no, c-carrying is a _big_ first step,” he replied shakily. “I’d rather w-walk this time.”

Patton nodded. “Okay, I understand. My house is this way.”

As Patton led the way, Roman tried to stay as close to him as possible without getting stepped on. This was a hard balance to maintain, especially with his fear telling him to keep a much wider distance than was necessary, and the few minutes of walking felt like an hour. Roman breathed a sigh of relief when they finally made it.

“Here we are.” Patton unlocked the door. “My home. And for now, _your_ home.”

“My home,” whispered Roman.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:  
> Feedback
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * Constructive criticism
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> [LLF Comment Builder](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/post/170952243543/now-presenting-the-llf-comment-builder-beta)
> 
> This author replies to comments.
> 
> If you would rather not receive a reply, type "whisper" into your comment, and I'll leave it alone.
> 
> EDIT: I just remembered something!! I wanted to say that I'm taking requests for future chapters! I have a couple ideas of my own, but not really enough for a decently-sized series yet. So, if there's something you want to see in future chapters, let me know. :)


End file.
